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Electric Avenue: Nissan’s community experiment results

The all-electric Nissan LEAF has converted participants to the benefits of electric cars in trials across the UK, where groups of neighbours leased the LEAF and ran it over 18 months.

My Electric Avenue, an Ofgem-supported project, tested whether local electricity networks could cope with charging a group of electric vehicles at peak times. Electric Avenue tests new technology to control the charging of the cars if the local electricity grid becomes overloaded.

My Electric Avenue exceeded its target of 10 clusters or 10 neighbours, and there are now over 200 participants in the trials.

One community in the North East has 23 neighbours driving Nissan LEAFs. 21-year old member Jack Hamilton said: “The Nissan LEAF is great to drive, it can fit five people, and it’s amazingly cheap to run. It’s also more interesting than the average car. I would definitely consider another electric car in the future.”

Julie Skevington told her neighbours about My Electric Avenue, and recruited them to the project. “I have driven over 15,000 miles in my Nissan LEAF in just over a year, so it obviously seems to meet my driving needs! I’ve even ventured further afield a few times, something that seems easier than I thought with a bit of planning.”

Zero emissions and zero cost to provide electricity

One participant even managed to reduce his electricity costs to zero using solar panels. Ian Finch said “The electricity to charge the Nissan LEAF for 80-100 miles of driving only costs around £2. However I’ve managed to drive the car completely free of charge in summer by using the solar panels on my house to power the car.”

“Of course this also means that the energy to recharge the car has zero-CO2 emissions. Add in the fact that the LEAF has no exhaust emissions, so it has no adverse impact on local air quality and people’s health, and surely this must be one of the most sustainable and affordable transport solutions available at this time.”

Sales of Nissan LEAF increasing across the UK

Paul O’Neill, EV Manager, Nissan Motor GB said: “Last year, UK sales of the Nissan LEAF more than doubled as the benefits of switching to a pure electric vehicles become more widely known amongst motorists.

“Not only does the LEAF offer motorists a driving experience that often betters its traditionally-powered rivals, it also delivers lower running costs and tangible savings and I am delighted that it has transformed the participants in the My Electric Avenue into committed electric car drivers.”

The LEAF in use at First Vehicle Leasing

“The Leaf is great, the range allows me to drive to and from work 4 days on a single charge. When I do need to charge the car, there are 2 fast chargers available at Hamilton and Bothwell Services which allow me to charge the battery to 80% in around half an hour.”

Frazer added “My Acenta model is very well equipped, it includes Alloy Wheels, Reversing Camera, Telephone Preparation & Satellite Navigation as standard. In anticipation of your next journey you can remotely turn on the Climate Control so that the car is warm and defrosted in the winter or cool in the summer.”

About David Petherick

David Petherick speaks Russian and Spanish, lives in Edinburgh, and drives a Peugeot 308. He is a keen Formula 1 follower and blogs a race preview before each race. He was cited by the BBC as the world's first Digital Biographer and was formerly UK Editor at The Next Web.